Saturday, April, 21 2018

Rival Entertainment Presents:

with The Coathangers

MINUS THE BEAR

Doors 7pm / Show 8pm / All Ages / $25 Advance / $30 Day of Show

ABOUT

• All Ages Welcome
• General Admission (first come, first served)
• Tickets available online via Ticketmaster.com or without ticket fees in person at the Center Stage Box Office, M-F, 11-6. Online sales end at 5pm on day of show

Over the course of their 15-year career, Minus the Bear have carved out their own unique musical world. This isn’t to say they’re impervious to outside influence. They’ve borrowed components from a wide swath of genres—the brainy clangor of New York’s proto-punk scene, the cerebral buzz of IDM, the poptimist evaluation of hip-hop and R&B, and the grandiose visions of prog rock—but always managed to defy classification. Throughout the first decade of their existence, every new album offered a new musical approach, as seen in the idiosyncratic fretboard gymnastics of Highly Refined Pirates, the glitchy loops of Menos el Oso, or the modernized Fripp-inspired wizardry of Planet of Ice. By the time the band entered our current decade, their knack for reinvention yielded to an emphasis on refinement. Albums like OMNI and Infinity Overhead searched for a middle ground where their myriad of stylistic approaches could all work within the context of a single record.

An all-female garage punk band with an irreverent, fun-loving attitude, the Coathangers play purposefully simple, hooky tunes that borrow from vintage girl group sounds and contemporary teen pop acts as much as the old-school punk and new wave outfits that inform their sound. Hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, the Coathangers were formed in 2006 by guitarist and singer Julia Kugel (aka Crook Kid Coathanger), bassist and singer Meredith Franco (aka Minnie Coathanger), keyboardist and singer Candice Jones (aka Bebe Coathanger), and drummer and singer Stephanie Luke (aka Rusty Coathanger) -- Kugel and Franco were working together in a dress shop that specialized in wedding gowns and prom dresses; Jones and Luke were earning their living as bartenders. While they could barely play their instruments, they were eager to take the stage, and after playing their first show at a house party, the Coathangers soon made their proper stage debut opening for the Hiss, and their sense of fun soon won over hometown audiences.

They also became friends with fellow Atlanta band the Black Lips, who gave the Coathangers opening slots that helped them gain an even larger audience. In 2007, infamous Atlanta punk label Die Slaughterhaus Records teamed up with New York's Rob's House Records to issue the band's self-titled debut album, and the Coathangers were playing out as often as their schedules would permit, frequently gigging throughout Georgia and venturing out on short tours. Their second album, 2009's Scramble, was released by Suicide Squeeze Records, and by the time they put out 2011's Larceny & Old Lace, they were playing throughout the country and even toured Europe opening for the Thermals. In 2013, the Coathangers hit Europe again opening for ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, but by the end of the year, they were reduced to a trio when Candice Jones left the group. Undaunted, the Coathangers pressed on as a three-piece as they recorded album number four, Suck My Shirt, which was released in the spring of 2014. In 2016, the Coathangers returned with their fifth album, the well-received Nosebleed Weekend. The Parasite EP followed in the summer of 2017 on Suicide Squeeze Records. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi